As soon as dawn arrived in the desert, the duo once again set off on their journey. And as expected, it was another day filled with fruitless travel.
"To have such an expansive desert that serves no purpose at all…are we looking at things the wrong way?"
Damien muttered to himself. He had begun feeling like he was doing something wrong after that night they took rest. When he started looking at things from a fresh perspective, the fact that such a desert existed without any direction was odd in the first place.
According to what he had gathered so far, the Primordial Undying Tree wasn't one to act without reason. For the setting of this trial to be a desert, it must mean something.
The only thing left to figure out was "what".
Suddenly, Damien had a thought. 'The beasts we've encountered so far have been one of two types. Either they attack from the sky or beneath the ground. Isn't it strange that there are no beasts living above ground at all? There isn't even a single sign of vitality.'
When he started following this thought process, he found it more and more strange. He had been looking for an oasis in the desert where the Primordial Undying Tree might be growing, but what if it wasn't like that at all?
He didn't have much experience with underground caves, if the dungeon wasn't counted, but he was well aware that the environment below the surface could also nurture flourishing vitality for different species of flora.
As for the sky, it was a bit different. He had personally seen floating mountains before in the Eternal Secret Realm. Who was to say that there couldn't be any here?
When his thoughts reached this point, he voiced them out to Lunaria to hear her opinion as well.
"Mm." Lunaria immediately nodded her head in understanding. "My thinking has been too shallow. It is indeed very possible that what you've guessed is the truth. The question is, to go up or to go down?"
Searching both would be ideal, but both the sky and the underground were vast areas that would take years on end to fully explore. It was impossible to not choose between them.
"Logically speaking, I feel that the sky is the better choice. The Primordial Undying Tree is known for its vitality, so I don't think it'd be underground. But we can't rule out that possibility either. After all, we don't have enough information on the tree itself besides the things that could benefit us." Damien pondered out loud.
"Then let's do this. One of us takes the sky and the other goes underground. We'll meet back up at this spot when 24 hours have passed. Whichever one of us has found more notable things, we'll go in that direction."
Even if it wasn't the Primordial Undying Tree, finding anything at all was better than their current predicament. As such, they should explore any notable locations they come across.
Maybe basing which direction they took on this kind of thing was heavily reliant on luck as well, but they didn't have any other choice. Unless they wanted to keep wandering aimlessly, this was the best course of action.
Lunaria agreed as well after mulling over it for a bit. "Very well. If it is so, then I shall take the sky. In 24 hours, I will come back to this spot and await your discoveries."
With that, she immediately took off into the air. Damien smiled wryly at her attitude.
'Not even giving me a chance to say anything and just deciding on your own…isn't it a bit too cruel?'
But he didn't really mind it. Of the two choices, he was much more familiar with being underground.
But first and foremost, he had to actually check whether the underground space he was imagining actually existed.
When he sent his awareness into the ground, the only thing he found was sand and the tunnels formed by the groundworms. With this alone, it seemed like there actually wasn't any underground ecosystem.
But he didn't believe it so easily.
Damien's awareness soon caught sight of a portion of the groundworms' funnel network. Arriving at the location of that connection point, he used his spatial mana to carve aside the sand and tunnel down.
He dropped quickly. Since he was separating space itself to move the sand, it didn't pile back into the hole he created either.
'Maybe I should take up a career as a miner.'
The sand soon became harder and thicker. It was evidence that he was getting closer to his destination. And not long after, he finally fell into a 10-foot-tall tunnel.
There were tens of connecting tunnels going in every direction. There were even a few that led down deeper into the underground.
'I should probably take one of those. This is still relatively close to the surface, so I doubt I'll find anything substantial if I keep traveling at this level.'
With that thought, he immediately chose a tunnel. By following its path, he could feel his altitude gradually decreasing as he headed deeper underground.
'Strange. I can feel the slight tremors of movement, but there are no life auras in the surroundings. Where is it coming from?'
As he moved deeper and deeper underground, the tremors only became more prevalent. But he still couldn't feel any life aura.
It was as if there was a constant earthquake taking place somewhere nearby.
'The temperature has been constantly dropping as well. It's getting hard to think of this place as a desert at this point.'
Instead of following the tunnel, Damien started tracking the source of the tremor instead. His instincts were telling him that he'd find something good there.
His path soon diverged from what was already dug out. He had to use his own mana to pave a new path to walk. However, he wasn't able to maintain the structural stability of a tunnel below so much sand.
Due to this, he could only displace space a little so that the sand wouldn't actually concave on him. Instead, the existing sand filled the gap he made back in after he passed through. Essentially, he was creating a path he couldn't return through.
'This better be worth it. It's harder to spread my awareness through solid ground like this without interference, especially when there are so many granules of sand in the way. If I want to leave, my only option is to go back to the surface or find a new path.'
Even as he complained, he kept moving forward. The tremors were getting even fiercer as he grew closer. It was to the point where the sand around him was in a constant state of vibration.
'Almost there.'
He pushed through the last barrier, and finally found himself in an open cavern.
"This is…!"
He couldn't help but exclaim out loud. When he was moving this way, he expected to find some sort of natural treasure or powerful beast. But the sight in front of him was neither.
Instead, he found a man-made construct. It was a set of ruins that was constantly sending out pulses of mana, causing the tremors he felt earlier.
Countless life auras of beasts were present within the ruins. Although he couldn't see them, he could estimate that all of them were at the peak of 3rd class.
And perhaps the most surprising fact of all was the temperature. Calling it cold was an understatement.
It was like a subzero blizzard. This cavern alone was filled with snow and ice completely unlike everything around it. Even with his resistance and powerful body, Damien could feel a biting chill enveloping him.
'This can't be natural. Something in that ruin is influencing the environment like this. But it isn't a living being since the mana signature coming from this blizzard doesn't match any of the beast auras I sense. If so…what is it?'
He was curious to find out. He wanted to dive into the ruin right away.
But he had a companion to meet up with later today. Not to mention, that companion would be a great help in an environment like this one.
Damien let his mana loose and allowed his unique spatial mana to imprint on the surroundings. This way, he'd be able to find this place even if he left far away and had to come back.
'I have many hours left before I have to meet up with Lunaria. Until then, I'll keep exploring. But after we meet, we definitely have to come back here first.'
Although he knew there was nothing here that could benefit him, he had realized as soon as he entered that there was something he could give Ruyue.
'Good. Let's see how she likes my present when we finally meet up. Ah, right. I wonder if she's cleared the Trial of Self yet? I guess I'll find out soon enough.'
With that thought, Damien left the icy cavern and continued exploring the underground.
